About Me and My Blog

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Stress Management

While weeding out very old magazines and booklets in my bookshelf, I chanced upon some which I have kept because I thought they were very educational.

Here are some tips from one of the booklets I collected from the Health Promotion Board - "Manage Stress Before It Manages You" - which I found very informative and useful.

All of us experience stress in our lives. For others it might be easier to cope with stress. While others have difficulty trying to overcome the stress in their lives. But before we can do something about stress we have to know what stress is, what triggers it and how it affects us, especially our health.

What is stress?

a body's response to any physical or emotional changes in life.

includes the release of a hormone (adrenaline) in the body

Adrenaline causes an increase in heart rate, breathing and in blood sugar levels. It also diverts the blood flow from your digestive system to your muscles

Positive stress helps us to cope with problems that might arise.

Living under very stressful conditions for long periods of time may harm our health, our relationships and our enjoyment of life

Causes of Stress

Positive and negative life events can lead to stress.

Major life changes

death of loved ones

accidents

legal issues

relocation

debt

illness

marriage

pregnancy

new job

divorce

unemployment

Environmental events

excessive noise

traffic jams

time pressure

competition

health epidemic

How Stress Affects Us Differently

Everyone reacts and copes with situations differently and thus we experience stress to different levels of intensity. Our body sends out various physical, mental, behavioural and emotional warning signs of stress.

Physical signs of stress

headaches, migraine, stomachaches

muscle tension

stomach ulcers

fast heartbeats

sleep disruption

loss of appetite or overeating

sweaty palms

trembling

chronic fatigue

Emotional signs of stress

anxiety and being bad-tempered

excessive worrying, moody

sadness, fear

feeling inadequate

Mental signs of stress

poor concentration

forgetfulness

lack of confidence

Behavioural signs of stress

acting in a defensive, aggressive or impulsive manner

nervous habits (eg. stammering or biting nails)

loss of interest in activities

avoidance of tasks

easily distracted

withdrawing from social activities

drinking or smoking excessively

How stress affects our health

Prolonged stress exposes our body constantly to the effects of adrenaline and will lead to many health problems